Do you have a book you read in school that you swore was the worst book ever? Have you ever thought that maybe your teachers weren't out to torture you, and there may have been a method to their madness after all? Then the July Challenge is for you!

Details on the challenge can be found here...check it out, and join us!

... I haven't updated my list here since mid-October. Oops. Well, in my defense, I was preparing to move, and hence packing, and working, and then the holidays hit, and well, now I'm updating. I did quite a bit of reading though, especially in the last month!

My numbers are based on my running total, which I started sometime last year, not since the beginning of 2008.

23. Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (256 pages)

I really enjoyed this one. I love how Douglas Adams can make everything just so... whimiscal? I don't know if that's the right word, but there's just something about his writing that I love. And this book was no exception - indeed, I think I like it better than the parts of Hitchhiker's I've gotten through. Maybe "mundanely surreal" is a more appropriate description, I don't know - but it is a style that I love, but I see very rarely, so if anyone can recommend authors who write in similar styles, I'm all ears! (Though I'll only be getting to them after I finish reading all of the storybooks(*) I own.

24. Kalyna's Song by Lisa Grekul (472 pages)

More love. As a third-generation Latvian-Canadian, I sympathize greatly with characters in books who are also Eastern European-Canadians. In this case, the character in question is Ukrainian-Canadian, and spends much of the book trying to figure out what that means to her - while on exchange at a school in South Africa. Very thought-provoking book, and I think it was meant to be somewhat autobiographical.

25. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (304 pages)

While Vonnegut seems to share some styles with Douglas Adams, I just couldn't really get into this one. I do have two more Vonnegut books to get through in my collection though (Sirens of Titan and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater), so we'll see if my opinion of his writing improves.

26. Zodiac by Neal Stephenson (308 pages)

I loved Snow Crash, and I loved this one as well, though not as much. Stephenson is a brilliant writer, but this one was maybe a little too realistically terrifying for me. Though I guess that was probably the point. I think though I'll probably stick to his science fiction type writing more - Diamond Age is one of the books coming up in my queue.

27. Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov (128 pages)

This was a fairly quick read, and really, typical Eastern European surrealist/dystopic fare. I was more intrigued with the social dynamics present than I was about the "science" of it all. I don't have any more Bulgakov books, but I may be willing to give him another shot later on down the line.

28. A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton (480 pages)
29. Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton (367 pages)

I read A Kiss of Shadows in five hours while on the train to Montreal, since when I got to Montreal I'd have to give it back to my boyfriend, who I'd borrowed it from. I liked it so much that upon getting home, I dove into the copy of Seduced by Moonlight that I'd picked up on sale somewhere, even though it is the third book of the series rather than the second. I'll get to the second later at some point, but I needed my fix of pretty long-haired men in sexual situations, even if it was just mental images of them. Though after I awhile I did start to tire of the whole "Merry meets another guy. They start to have sex immediately, or at least consider it" plot, though that did get somewhat better in Seduced by Moonlight

30. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher (496 pages)

While at my boyfriend's, I was able to snag this eighth book of Dresden Files to read, to continue along in the series. Again, doesn't disappoint, I love Dresden, but I think I love Thomas more. And as I said before, the only way I know that Dresden survives is that there's another book after the one I'm reading...

31. Idoru by William Gibson (383 pages)

This was an intriguing book, because I tend to love cyberpunk futuristic things, and especially this one let me take more glimpses into the actual working of the society, rather than just showing characters in that setting. I'm a fan, and I'll probably read more Gibson later on, however, being as I don't currently have any more of his books, that will have to wait.

32. The Postman by David Brin (336 pages)

Definitely liked this one better than the movie, which I saw years ago. The various different subplots of "lying to the people to give them hope" intertwined quite well, and I think hope is an important thing that people need, particularly in such a post-apocalyptic world. While I don't think that lying is necessarily the best answer, it did inspire people to begin to create a society again, rather than just surviving, so I guess there is some merit to the idea.

33. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey (720 pages)

I actually read this book many months ago, but I'd forgotten to note it down, so I'm including it now. I know I read it during the time that I've been doing the 50bookchallenge, since the book that comes before it in the series is on my list, so this one fits. As always, Jacqueline Carey is stunning, and I'm happy that the characters were able to travel to places previously untravelled again, though I wish she'd shown that there is more to Eastern Europe than just Rus.

( Previous books, Page totals, Around the World in 100 Books countries )

Currently reading: R.U.R. and the Insect Play by Josef and Karel Čapek.

(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays or epic poems. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).

Well, I ended up missing last month's update, but I guess that makes this one look more impressive? Maybe? Gah, I'm still terrible. Need motivation!

13. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (352 pages)
14. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (378 pages)
15. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher (371 pages)
16. Death Masks by Jim Butcher (378 pages)
17. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (372 pages)
18. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (448 pages)

I borrowed the first book of the Dresden Files series from my roommate ages ago, and I really enjoyed it. Now, my boyfriend lent me this stack, and they were just the distraction to distract me from all the other reading I need to do from my collection. Will have to wait on reading books eight and nine in the series though, since no one I know owns them, and I am not allowed to buy any more fiction until I read the story books(*) I already own. I love Dresden, and I am also in love with Thomas, though I know not to let myself get too attached, because things Can and Do go Wrong for everyone in the series. I know the only reason why I have faith in Dresden's surviving ability is that there are more books to come past the ones I've already read. Heh.


19. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (481 pages)

This book took me forever to get through, but I'm happy I finally made my way through it. Learned a lot about things that have entered popular culture and popular conceptions about Christianity, even if they are things that aren't mentioned in the Bible, but put to paper by Dante. An interesting read, moreso in the Inferno and Purgatory sections than in the Paradise section.

20. Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian (289 pages)

I really enjoyed this book, because it linked together history and modern day experiences, all interwoven to explain how the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey's continued denial of it, continue to affect survivors and their descendants. Very poignant.

21. Heaven Cent by Piers Anthony (324 pages)

After all that heavy reading, I needed something lighter and fun. I am not reading Anthony's Xanth series in any kind of order, as I've read most of the later books but fewer of the older ones. This was one of the older ones, and served to explain a lot of things that I had seen in later books. Worthwhile read in the series for sure.

22. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (354 pages)

This book was utterly bizarre, but also very compelling. The bits about religion were especially interesting to me, as well as the whole portion on the raft.

( Previous books, Page totals, Around the World in 100 Books countries )

Currently reading: Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams. What does it say about my book collection when I picked up *Douglas Adams* to get a break from surrealist metaphors and wandering stream-of-consciousness prose?

(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays or epic poems. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Well... thank God I finally got this one finished (on the loo with a bout of gastro, no less... kinda appropriate, considering how I felt about it!). Now I never have to think about it again.

I was talking to a friend about it today; she said that the reviews should have just read "The horror! The horror!" It's funny 'cos it's true.

The only 'positive' thing I can say about the book was that it was interesting how Marlowe told the story to the narrator (who we rarely heard from).

I dunno... Maybe I'm too old (or young)? Maybe it's a boy's book? Maybe I'm not 'intellectual' or analytical enough? It just didn't do anything for me.

Progress:

24 / 50 books. 48% done!

I need inspiration of a large sort to get through all the story-books(*) I own... I can't buy any new books until they are finished, but some of the books are just a drag to slog through. But I *must* finish them. I finished Deathly Hallows in five and a half hours in one sitting, it shouldn't take me two weeks to make my way through a book a third of the size. But it has. Recommendations on how to inspire myself to ge through my other reading?

9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (607 pages) - reread

What can I say about it? A reread in preparationg for Deathly Hallows. My second favourite book of the series, beat only by Order of the Phoenix.

10. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (343 pages)

Quite an interesting book, I loved getting a glimpse into the world of revolutionary Iran. It would have been better if I had read all of the books that they were talking about, but I'll get to doing that after I've read my collection of books and am allowed to start acquiring new ones again. What struck me most here was how life in totalitarian regimes, regardless of what the totalitarian ideology is, is still very similart. Ordinary people are commiting "crimes" every day just by living their lives the way they choose to. Even the smallest act can be an act of resistance.

11. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (607 pages)

( Nothing specifically spoilerish, but cutting anyways )

12. A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand (224 pages)

Not so much a story per se as a meandering through thoughts in a quasi-story format, but without a linear plot. Didn't bother me though, because I can relate to a lot of what she writes. Even though she is writing about the Black Diaspora, and I am not Black, the stories that she tells hold true for any group of people forced from their homes through little to no choice of their own and sent out into the rest of the world, and the generations that grow up in that exile. Quite poignant.

( Previous books, Page totals, Around the World in 100 Books countries )

Next up: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Paradise Lost by John Milton.

(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays or epic poems. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).

London, Edward Rutherford
At over 1600 pages, this book took me longer than I hoped... but was well worth it; especially in preparation for my first ever trip to London (which I've just returned from). Rutherford spins his story from pre-Roman times to almost present day, following the lives of half-a-dozen ficticious families throughout history. Their stories are the story of London, and, some might argue, the story of England itself. Really entertaining, and educational too!

The Best of Tokyo, Lonely Planet
v. useful

Persuasion, Jane Austen
( Read more... )

The History of England, by a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian. (There will be very few Dates in this History.), Jane Austen
( Read more... )

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
( here be spoilers... like anyone's not finished yet! )

Monthly update... I've been slacking. However, I have decided to take up the "Around the World in 100 Books" challenge, though that one will probably stretch beyond my specified reading deadline - being January - due to two reasons: a) the deadline is for reading all of the story(*) books I own, and has the caveat that I must read the story books I own before I buy any more (ones that I have already paid for such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are exempt from this and can enter the reading rotation when releassed), and b) due to reason A, I only have a dozen countries represented in my current unread story book collection.

So here we go...

4. Romanitas by Sophia McDougall (442 pages)

A bit slow to start, and didn't feel finished at the end, but I suppose that is because it will have a sequel eventually. I also didn't feel any sort of real attachment to any of the characters. they were just figures through which this alternate world was explored. Despite these flaws, however, I really must commend Sophia McDougall on the fascinating world she has created - that is, a world answering the question "What if Rome never fell?" Her world construction is magnificient and detailed, and quite plausible in its appearance. With such a magnificent setting, but a lack in identifiable characters, this setting could make a wonderful roleplaying game setting supplement, but as a novel, is fairly dry.

5. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (351 pages)
6. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (288 pages)
7. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (465 pages)

The His Dark Materials trilogy was recommended to me by a variety of friends, since I enjoy books with fantastical elements in a familiar world. This book also provided both alternate and familiar worlds, which were quite fascinating to explore. I love the daemon concept, and am eagerly awaiting the first book being made into a movie come the end of this year. What I enjoyed most about this trilogy, however, was just a slight little detail - Latvian characters! As a Latvian-Canadian, I'm always eager to see Latvian characters appear in literature, and it makes me all kinds of happy when the Latvian characters are actually Latvian. More often in popular culture any "Latvian" character is actually Russian or German in name, language and appearance. The Latvian witches in this story had Latvian names, which made me quite content.

8. 8 Minutes Idle by Matt Thorne (474 pages)

This was an odd book on various fronts - completely mundane, but absurdist and surrealist at the same time. I often enjoy books like this, a favourite of mine in this genre being The Scheme For Full Employment by Magnus Mills. In this one, however, you take a normal call centre and call centre worker and descend into absurdity from there. The ending left something to be desired though - it went beyond the absurdity of mundanity into adversity and oddity, which I don't quite appreciate in this type of literature.

( Previous books, Page totals, Around the World in 100 Books countries )

Next up: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Paradise Lost by John Milton.

(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).

Wow, it's been such a long time since I updated. Here are the reviews of the books I've read lately (x-posted from my book blog:

44. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay ( Review... )

45. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz ( Review... )

46. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel ( Review... )

47. The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama ( Review... )

48. Sky Burial by Xinran ( Review... )

49. Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende ( Review... )

50. Cordelia Underwood, Or the Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League by Van Reid ( Review... )

51. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay ( Review... )

52. Speak Rwanda by Julian R. Pierce ( Review... )

53. Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama ( Review... )

54. The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama ( Review... )

55. Mélusine by Sarah Monette ( Review... )

56. The Virtu by Sarah Monette ( Review... )

57. The Silent Pool by Patricia Wentworth  ( Review... )

What Your Parents Never Told You About Being a Mom or Dad by Stan and Jan Berenstain 06/01/07
( Parenting Book Review )

Queen Isabella by Alison Weir 06/03/07
( Fiction Review )

Red Poppies by Alai translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin 06/04/07
( Fiction Review )

Baby Minds : Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn 06/06/07
(  Parenting Book Review )

25 Stupid Mistakes Parents Make by Peter Jaksa, Ph.D. 06/07/07
(  Parenting Book Review )

I read House of Meetings by Martin Amis because the novel was reviewed favourably. I can't recommend it, though; the characters and the story were unpleasant, and because the book was written in the first person, there was no relief to be found anywhere. My one consolation is that I didn't spend any money on a book I never want to read again. For once, I decided to get the book from the library, read it, and then decide if I wanted to own a copy, so I've happily saved myself a few dollars to use for something I like better.

Yesterday I finished The Saffron Kitchen, a first novel by Yasmin Crowther. Crowther is the daughter of an Iranian mother and a British father, and her novel echoes her own mixed heritage. The Saffron Kitchen, the story of Maryam Mazar and her daughter Sara, moves back and forth, in time and place, between pre-Revolutionary Iran where Maryam grew up as the daughter of a general in the Shah's army, and modern-day London, where she's a built a new life and watched her own daughter grow to adulthood. The past, though, has ways of impinging on the present, and a slap across the face begins a chain of events that eventually leads Maryam back to Iran to confront her past and its secrets, and sends Sara after her to try and bring her home again. It's a voyage of discovery for both women.

Two more good books read in April:

(1) The Naming of the Dead, the new mystery by Ian Rankin featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus; and

(2) A Year in Provence, the delightful memoir by Peter Mayles

I wrote a long post about Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography Infidel in my own lj today, so I'll just link to that entry. You'll find it here: http://aswanargent.livejournal.com/121259.html

It appears I forgot to post about my fourth book read for the challenge here in this community, although I did make an entry in my own lj. The book was Kjell Eriksonn's The Princess of Burundi; it's a Swedish crime novel, and the first of this author's works to be translated into English. Recommended. My original post is here: http://aswanargent.livejournal.com/116198.html

Just finished George Orwell's novel Burmese Days. In our politically-correct 21st century, it's a bit of a shock to read this novel (published in the early 1930s) and listen to the characters (a small group of Englishmen - colonial administrators and lumber merchants posted to Burma in the late days of British Imperialism) expound on the universe and the white man's place in it. It's not a happy story, but it's a good one, and Orwell, who served in the Military Police in Burma, does a wonderful job of creating the setting and filling it with alien sights and sounds.

Next up: Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man.

The Wayward Tourist: Mark Twain's Adventures in Australia, Mark Twain, with Introduction by Don Watson

Written pre-Federation, Mark Twain visits the Colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia (which he claims is a province - I'll have to look that up) and Tasmania.

Not as funny as I heard it talked up as being (in an interview with Don Watson), but still an interesting read. Some passages could have been written last year, instead of more than a century ago... but other sections were quite dated. Interesting to read his gushing descriptions of Sydney Harbour's beauty, then to realise that neither the Bridge or the Opera House (the two jewels in her modern crown) existed! I couldn't decide whether his attitudes to indigenous Australians were for real, or if he was trying to be tounge in cheek when he spoke about how they should be greatful that Europeans were efficient to kill off the species.

I've read a bit of Bill Bryson and Peter Moore. The Wayward Tourist serves as a precurser to the modern travel/humour books.

Progress:

6 / 50 books. 12% done!

6 / 100 (6.0%)

6) Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin
10/10

34. The Good Women of China by Xinran (memoir)

During the relatively open period in the 1990s, Xinran was the presenter of a popular radio show, Words on the Night Breeze. When she became interested in learning more about the lives of her fellow Chinese women, her position as a journalist and her ability to gain the trust of these women allowed her to hear many stories about their lives. The book was published in England after she moved there in 1997.

Xinran had me hooked when she explained, in her prologue, that she had risked her life fighting off a mugger in London in order to preserve her manuscript because she wasn't sure she would be willing or able to recreate it:

However, I wasn't sure that I could put myself through the extremes of feeling provoked by writing the book again. Reliving the stories of the women I had met had been painful, and it had been harder still to order my memories and find language adequate to express them. In fighting for that bag, I was defending my feelings, and the feelings of Chinese women. The book was the result of so many things which, once lost, could never be found again. When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches, and the route is different every time.

After reading the rest of the book, I understand where she's coming from. The stories she recounts, from personal interviews with Chinese women, phone calls to the radio station, and letters from her listeners, are heart-wrenching. A large part of the appeal of this book is that she doesn't forget that she too is a Chinese woman. Stories of her life growing up during the Cultural Revolution are woven into her narrative.

The stories in The Good Women of China cover many aspects of women's lives in China, from marriage and children to rape and sexual abuse, from religion to mental illness, from love to suicide. Xinran's writing is always engaging, and the stories are gripping even when they are tragic.

I read this for my personal World Lit Challenge, and it's a perfect choice for any similar challenge.

Books read: 34/300
Pages read: 8,631/75,000

I'm totally stealing maxies_world's Around the World in 100 Books challenge, except I'm paring it down to 50, which is a far more reasonable goal for me, I think.

My to-be-read list for the challenge is really pathetic. I haven't even been able to choose a book for my own country!

So, I'm hoping to get some recomendations for books. Non-fiction is fine; nothing from the UK, Ireland, or the US, please.

ETA: I've learned three things from this post so far: 1) That Indian fiction is the most popular "international" literature, at least in this comm; and 2) That the people in this community are awesome! Thanks, everyone - in less than a day, I have filled in quite a lot of spaces on my list. I'm always happy to get more, though!

First things first. I'm not really travelling. I just plan on reading books. A lot of books.

Here's my plan: I am aiming to read 100 books from 100 different countries in one year. These books will include novels, short stories, poetry, maybe non-fiction books...it all depends what I come across through my browsings in libraries and bookshops. This may seem like an arbitrary goal, which I suppose it is really, but I'm hoping to get a lot from my year of world literature. A better knowledge of geography for a start...

Last year, dating from when I started the challenge, I read about twenty books. I have a lot of work to do this year! I'm currently reading my way around Latin America; so far, I've read

The Fragrance of Guava, by Marquez and Mendosa (Chile)
Death In The Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

I enjoyed both of the above books immensely; for a more thorough analysis of why, I'm also posting at http://booktraveller.blogspot.com where you can find detils of what I have read and will be reading along with reviews and other miscellany. My posts here will be shorter because so many people post here!